House Chairperson, I thank hon Ndlovu for the question he has posed. The Department of Correctional Services entered into a contract with a service provider in 2005-06 with a view to the provision of nutrition services to inmates in our biggest centres in eight management areas in our country. This was occasioned by the rapid overcrowding and the increase in inmates in these major centres during the period mentioned above in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
These facilities accommodate approximately 47 421 inmates, which represents 41% of the current inmate population in the country. After a decision was taken to in-source nutrition services, structures were put in place to ensure that the department moves towards the insourcing of nutrition services for the management areas concerned. The contract in its current form expires in 2013.
However, the termination will be dependent on the state of readiness of all management areas identified above. This would be monitored on a monthly basis. The key issues we have regarding the impact on nutrition services are the verification and auditing of all the assets of the current service provider, cost and functionality and value for money for the Department of Correctional Services.
The training of offenders and officials earmarked to provide services in accordance with industry best practice and accreditation and the refurbishment of kitchens must be completed according to the required standards. However, this is hugely dependent on the third party's involvement in the proposed upgrades, namely Public Works, which also depends on contractors.
As agreed with the portfolio committee, the Department of Correctional Services is committed to providing progress reports on measures of insourcing nutrition, which will determine the way forward with the current service provider's contract. The report will include, among others, reports of the department's preparation with regard to contracts for perishable and nonperishable products.
Ngiyabonga Sihlalo, mhlonishwa sivumelene siyikomidi ukuthi izinkontileka zokuphekela iziboshwa ziyaphela ekupheleni konyaka. Manje la enginengqinamba khona, la umhlonishwa engafuni ukuphumela khona obala athi qekelele, ukuthi njengoba sivumelene sekusele izinyanga ezintathu kuphele unyaka, sekukuphi ngempela manje? Ngibuza ngoba uzokhumbula ukuthi le nkontileka ike yangenwa umkhono nesiphanga la kungafanele khona. Sayibona isingaphakathi isidla imali kahulumeni, singazange sivumelane. Kulokhu-ke, umhlonishwa ingabe ubiye kahle yini ukuze kwenzeke ukuthi le nkontileka ingene ngesango elifanele?
UNGQONGQOSHE WEZOKUHLUNYELELISWA KWEZIMILO: Ngiyabonga lungu elihloniphekile, empeleni kumele kube nemibiko ... (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Mr V B NDLOVU: Thank you, Chairperson. Hon member, as the committee, we agreed that the contracts for catering services for inmates are going to be terminated at the end of the year. Now the problem is that the hon member does not want to come clean. Since we are only left with three months before the year ends since the agreement was reached, where exactly is the process now? I am asking because if you can recall, this contract benefited where it was not supposed to. We just saw it providing services and receiving government funds, without having reached an agreement.
This time around, did the hon member secure everything so that this contract can follow proper and correct procedures?
Thank you, hon member. In fact, there must be reports ...]
... as soon as the portfolio committee is ready to receive them on a regular basis...
... ukuze kwazeke ukuthi kukuphi manje ngoba ngeke usuke nje uthi kulezi khungo zokuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo eziyisishagalombili okuyizona ezineziboshwa eziningi, ngingathi nje izi-47 000. Uma ungasuka uthi, iyagcina ngoMfumfu 31 noma ngoMasingana 31 kodwa ubungalungisile kahle ukuthi ... (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[... so that we know where the process is now, because at these 8 correctional centres which have more inmates, approximately 47 000, you cannot just say the contract will be terminated in October 31 or January 31 without a plan in place of ...]
... about what is going to happen the following day: They have dinner tonight, then you cut the service, and what will then happen for breakfast? All facilities and assets belong to the existing service providers. The information we were dealing with yesterday was not accurate in that respect. Some of those assets belong to them.
Kuyalungiswa ukuze kuhleleke ukuthi ... [We are putting measures in place so that ...]
... by the time they withdraw we will be ready to provide. The agreement is there, and we are now in the process of doing that. I think the portfolio committee needs to give itself the opportunity to receive the report that it commissioned.
House Chairperson, it is common cause, hon Minister, that these Busasa contracts were created to enrich individuals.
Hear, hear!
Secondly, we heard what you actually told this House about the termination of contracts. These contracts were supposed to have been terminated earlier this year, but then your department and management extended them for another year. Now, the question is this: I foresee, given your answer to this House, that come 31 January 2013 there will be an excuse, for whatever reason, why the contract cannot be terminated, and taxpayers' money will again be spent on this fruitless exercise. Are you in a position, regarding the prospect I have just given, to assure this House that under your watch there will be no extension of any of these Busasa contracts? [Applause.]
House Chairperson, I think we should be quite concrete here. It is indeed common cause that these contracts have not been renewed in the regular sense, except for the period up to the end of the year, to 31 January, or to whenever we shall be ready. Can you imagine the situation at Victor Verster Prison, at Pollsmoor, or anywhere, should you say that the contractor must end its services on a particular day and you are not actually ready to take over that service? As a result, there would be no breakfast the following day. [Interjections.]
Order, hon members! Let us give the Minister the opportunity to respond to the supplementary question.
No, it is fine. I think that we should all give ourselves an opportunity. We are talking about a contract that started in 2005. We are on top of this situation. We have informed ourselves of what is going on, and we want to take the portfolio committee with us. They should have the report they commissioned in order to know where the progress is at now. In so doing, they will know in September whether they will be ready in November or in January. It is no use to speculate about what may happen.
Chairperson, the response by the hon Minister is in line with the view strongly held by the portfolio committee that the self-sufficiency of our correctional centres must be promoted so that skills can be developed and inmates can utilise their time in incarceration meaningfully, making reintegration smoother when they are released back into society. We therefore welcome the response by the hon Minister and trust that he will ensure that the timelines will be kept. [Applause.]
That was no supplementary question, but if the hon Minister wants to respond to that statement, he may do so. The next supplementary question is by the hon Ramatlakane.
House Chair, with respect to this question, Minister, it is shocking to hear that response. I asked your predecessor the same question late last year. She assured this House that there was an exit strategy; that it was already taking place and was being implemented then, not in 2013. She gave a list of contracts that should have come to an end. Now it appears that, actually, it is not so. Why should we believe that what you are saying now will actually happen, because the goalposts shift from one Minister to another? This is about Busasa and the corruption linked with the Busasa contract. Can you assure us now that your predecessors misled Parliament? [Time expired.]
House Chairperson, I said the portfolio committee was at liberty to get a progress report on our preparedness to effect this transfer. The agreement has been made. The contract was awarded in 2005. How, then, do we effect an exit strategy for Pollsmoor, which is in three phases; for Patensie in the Eastern Cape; for Umzinto; for Johannesburg Medium A and B, and all those places? I am sure you are not looking for a situation where inmates have food today and no food tomorrow. It would be irresponsible for anyone in this House to suggest that we should just do it for the sake of doing it, without being prepared.
Let us give ourselves an opportunity. In September we will submit a progress report so that all of us, reading from the same page, will know how far we are. We will know where we are by October, November, December, and so forth. No one has misled the House. The report by Minister Mapisa- Nqakula was correct and we are making progress precisely on that. There is no change of policy; it is the same ANC. [Applause.]
Proposed establishment of SADC Customs Union
213. Mr E M Sulliman (ANC) asked the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation:
(a) Why has the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Customs Union not yet been established as envisaged with the establishment of the SADC Free Trade Agreement in 2008, (b) what steps has she taken to facilitate the realisation of this goal and (c) what has been the cost of not establishing the SADC Customs Union?